It’s official, the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, the national men’s curling championship, is coming to Kingston.

As reported earlier this week in the Whig-Standard, Curling Canada, the City of Kingston and Tourism Kingston officials announced the prestigious event will be coming to the Leon’s Centre from Feb. 29 to March 8, 2020.

Ken Thompson, the local 2020 bid chair, called it a great day for curling in Kingston.

“It will be a great honour to host the Tim Hortons Brier in 2020,” he said to about 200 local curlers, business people and community leaders who attended the official announcement at the Leon’s Centre on Thursday morning.

“Hosting the 2020 Brier will be a fitting tribute to the Royal Kingston Curling Club and its celebration of 200 years of curling in Kingston.”

Thompson said people in Kingston started curling 15 years before the opening of Kingston Penitentiary and seven years before the start of construction of the Rideau Canal.

“Where history and innovation thrive is Kingston’s motto, and our bid was indeed innovative and historical,” he said.

It will be 63 years since the Brier was last in Kingston, after hosting the event at the Memorial Centre in 1957.

Approximately 130,000 people are expected to come to Kingston to watch the Brier, converting into an economic impact of about $11 million to the city.

Other cities in the running for the Brier were Moncton, N.B., Prince George, B.C., and St. Catharines.

The 2019 Brier will be held in Brandon, Man., from March 2-10.

Also making speeches on stage was Sylvia Jones, the Ontario minister of tourism, culture and sport; Stephen Chenier, the executive director of CurlOn, Ontario’s curling body; Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson; Hugh Mackenzie of Tourism Kingston; and George Cooke, a governor at Curling Canada.

In his speech, Cooke said the Kingston bid was creative and outstanding.

George Cooke, a member of the board of governors of Curling Canada, speaks during the announcement on Thursday that Kingston will host the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, the national men’s curling championship. (Ian MacAlpine/The Whig-Standard/Postmedia Network)Ian MacAlpine /
Ian MacAlpine/Kingston Whig-Standard/Postmedia Network

“Events such as the Tim Hortons Brier result in massive exposure for the host cities,” Cooke said. “Nearly 70 hours of coast-to-coast television coverage, that’s a major reason why there’s such intense competition to host our events.”

In an interview after the event, Cooke said he liked the way the committee integrated the community into the event, such as dispersing the Brier Patch, where curling fans socialize after each draw, throughout the downtown community.

“It not only showcases Kingston but shows great aspects of the community,” he said.

He was impressed with local partners promoting the Save your Seat campaign, selling 2,200 $50 deposits on tickets to the Brier.

“The stuff was on buses, it was in bus stations, it was in train stations, you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing it,” he said. “You go into a Tim Hortons and they’re wearing the buttons. It speaks volumes for what the community is all about.”

Cooke also said Curling Canada liked the way the community ran the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2013 out of the then Rogers K-Rock Centre and the Travellers event last year at Cataraqui Golf and Country Club.

The Leon’s Centre, with a capacity of 5,700 for hockey, is one of the smaller venues to host a Brier, but Cooke said he prefers to see a full facility as opposed to empty seats in a larger one, and this will guarantee full crowds for most draws in Kingston.

“This is a good-sized venue and when this venue is full, that is incredibly successful,” Cooke said.

Mayor Bryan Paterson said in an interview after the event that the committee knew it was going to run into some stiff competition from the other host hopefuls.

“At the same time, we believed in the power of our bid and believed in what Kingston could offer as a venue and as a host city,” he said. “The city went all in, the community went all in, there were countless stakeholders and community partners and we gave it our all.

“So to see Curling Canada go forward and choose Kingston is a big moment for our community, and it’s another example showing how Kingston is on the move as a city, another great example of how we’re going to put Kingston on the map nationally and beyond.”

Thompson was helped in the bid process by local curling organizer Linda Lott and Brooke Lenser of Tourism Kingston. As well, John Ryce and Lott will be the vice-chairs of the event along with Thompson.

Thompson said afterward that it was Kingston’s strong revenue package that helped secure the bid and had full support from area curling clubs.

“We gave them a whole bunch of different options for use of unique facilities in Kingston, such as the use of the field house at CFB Kingston and tours of Kingston Penitentiary.”

Springer Market Square as well as downtown bars and restaurants will be part of the Brier Patch.

Details on how other facilities will be used have yet to be worked out, Thompson said.

He also said a large heated tent may be erected in the parking lot across from the Leon’s Centre on The Tragically Hip Way.

The organizing committee will soon be looking for volunteers, and recruitment will begin in the new year.

Ticket deposits will be taken until Nov. 15.

Tickets for the 2020 brier will go on sale in late February 2019.

“With a successful Brier, we’ll build not only the curling legacy but the sports legacy of the city of Kingston and it won’t be 63 years before we get another brier,” Thompson said, summing up his speech.